So I just responded to strongerthanfood's post about the basic concept of being in a calorie deficit. I pretty much have the SCIENCE of it down pat, but yet when I am applying this to myself, it's not working this time!!
I have used 2 different calorie calculators, one saying calories for loss should be around 1435 and the other around 1595. I am counting calories everyday just like in the past, measuring and weighing things and I am trying to keep it around 1450-1500. I cycle my calories so I have a couple of high days around 17-1800, 2 low days set at 1200 and the rest in between. I am exercising and yet I have remained the same weight give or take a pound, today marks the 10th day that nothing is changing.
Any ideas as to what is going on here? I feel devastated because I am doing the same exact things I did before that helped me shed almost 30 lbs. Going over my past weight loss, I do see that my weight fluctuated a bit before dropping, but not for this long, usually I would see the same weight for several days and then a big whoosh would come my way.
UPDATE: The scale finally moved an entire pound this morning!
Last edited by Niecy; 01-19-2011 at 10:28 AM.
Reason: UPDATE:
I am no expert, but I have heard changing your workout intensity may help. I think it was on Dr. OZ, just changing the incline on the person's treadmill by a few %, it made the body work harder and they started to lose weight again.
You're probably getting closer to having lower maintenance calories. So, you're deficit isn't as great as it used to be. You're still in a deficit, but not as big a one, so your rate of loss will slow down.
There can be other factors though. Have you changed your exercise habits? If you are lifting heavier, DOMS will cause you to retain fluids for up to a week or so, in order to aid muscle repair.
A change of weather in your neck of the woods can do the same thing. Colder weather and your body may retain fluid for insulation, or even you aren't expending as much through day to day things like sweating.
From your ticker, your body may be at a plateau to where it's uncomfortable giving up any more weight until it recalibrates a bit. It will spend some time 'reorganizing' it before it sacrifices anymore. It's taking stock. Those are the times where you lose inches but not pounds. Have you measured yourself lately??
Since you're weighing everything and being accurate, you're losing weight. We are machines afterall. Wonderful machines, but machines never the less. It's just a matter of allowing our brain to realize what our body already knows.
I've been on a plateau too... for about 2 weeks. Once you have lost a good bit of weight it becomes harder to lose more. I am starting to change my food and change up my exercise. I don't know what exercise you do - but if you do elliptical try hitting the interval button. Or treadmill at a really high incline.
At 148 you are most likely maintaining on those calories you are eating, I'd try going down to 1300-1400 and seeing if they helps. Or I'd increase your workout intensity.
Thanks for the replies! I do see a couple of things going on here...Ready4skinny, I upped the resistance on the elliptical a few days ago to the point my hamstrings, thighs and calves are sore. Maybe this is the 'problem'. I've read when you up the intensity it can cause you to retain "weight" for a time, the whole glycogen thing, I didn't read enough into it to explain it in layman's terms though.
Katy, it has been COOOOOOLD here lately, temps of 20-40 during day and into the teens at night. This could be a possibility! Also, you just mentioned the muscle repair aspect too, yes this could be true because I am sore. Add to that, my body sort of did this, but not quite so long at the SAME weight zone as this one, the 148-149 range. I just can't remember what finally worked to get me out of that rut, seems like I just kept on trucking anyway and once I got past 147, it was smooth sailing until I hit 138, then it went back to the same back and forth thing for a while.
Initiative, calorie cycling is the only way for me...I canNOT do same cals day in and day out, I would never lose weight that way it is just too restrictive. I wonder if I should cut back maybe 50 cals and see how that goes along with upping the exercise a little? I don't know, it doesn't help that I tend to be OCD about the whole weight loss thing as well!!
Also wanted to add, STUPIDLY enough, I don't measure myself...it's just something I don't take time to do consistently. I can go try on some of the clothes that didn't fit 2 weeks ago and see if there is any difference, other than that, I don't really have much to go on except for what the scale says.
I suppose the smart thing to do is try and make it a point to measure at least once a week.
10 days is not very long and, depending on how active you are during the day, 1400 cals or so @ 148 lbs is not that great of a deficit.
My advice is to give it more time. A "whoosh" might be just around the corner.
If you still haven't seen a change in the scale in a month, lower your calories by 100-150/day or increase the intensity of your workouts (but not the frequency).
Thanks again everyone...I think I am going to take your advice of trying to change the exercise first, adding 10 more minutes of higher intensity. I would rather do this than tinker with the calories just yet. Here's to hoping the next few days will bring some change!
Also keep in mind 4-6 weeks is a reasonable time to see changes. You are only 148 at 5'5 - totally different ballgame than when you started at almost 200. The smaller you are, the harder it is to lose. You don't have nearly the same amount of fat and the body goes slower.
As a Certified Personal Trainer, I can't tell you how many times I see people make mistakes in calculating their calories.
Assuming you are 5'5, a female, roughly age 30, and at 148lbs, your BMR will roughly be around 1463 or so. However, this is just the minimum calories your body needs and would burn on its own if you were to lay in bed all day. You don't though, you get up you walk around, you move, you exercise. That being said, you also need to take into account the calories you need to perform these movements. The combination of your BMR and activity level is known as your TDEE or Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
Assuming the same stats, and that you are moderately active, your estimated TDEE is around 2,162 calories per day. If you want to maintain weight you'd consume around that amount. However, you want to lose weight and lose it in a healthy manner. Experts recommend taking your TDEE and subtracting 500 calories from that amount. That would leave you with 1,662 calories. You could probably even go down to 1,600 calories.
If you are eating just 1,400-1,500 calories per day, and yet burning 500 calories still, you are not going to have consumed enough calories to at least meet your BMR. Going below your BMR can actually cause your body to try and store much of what you eat in a desperate attempt to conserve energy and survive.
That being said it is no surprise that when some people go on very-low calorie diets they either gain weight or plateau and stop losing weight.
It may sound odd, but you do need to have enough calories to ensure a safe and healthy weight loss. As you lose more weight, even a pound, you can recalculate your numbers as needed.
I just went through this with a client of mine. He was eating below his BMR and as a result was maintaining and gaining. When I got him to confess about his diet, the reason became clear. Now he is on the path to weight loss again.
In addition, as others said, change up your exercise routine completely. Our bodies adapt to the exercises we do if we do not up the weight and change them. Focus on exercises that work the large muscle groups of your body like your legs, back, and chest to burn even more calories.
Elite, THANKS SO MUCH for your feedback...what do you think when the person has thyroid issues? There is not a whole lot out there on diet and thyroid disease, but from what I have read, it seems most women with this do end up having to cut calories a little more than most normal women because it seems no matter what we are all in some type of "hibernation" state physically so to speak.
Just wanted your professional opinion on that, and if that at all changes things.
You'll probably need to up your intake in the winter. Cold weather especially signals the body to hold on to fuel when it's scarce, so if you keep yourself well nourished you'll be more apt to turn on the internal furnace. That's been, at least, my experience. My weight loss really slows over the cold weather and into overdrive in the heat,
Also, what kinds of foods are you eating? Some foods can really impede weight loss.
And, like everyone else said, 10 days isn't terribly long for a stall. It's not uncommon to plateau for weeks or months after you've lost such a significant chunk of weight. Maybe you can use it as a maintenance test-run to let all your systems acclimate and in a few weeks change something up dramatically.
Discouraged! I am not getting this at all!!!
